Well, I’m on my way to the dark side. Stay tuned for my salty adventure into a reef tank. I’ve purchased a JBJ LED Advanced Nano Cube. My intention is to make it a mixed reef with a few fish. I haven’t started the build yet because I still need some equipment. Next up for purchase is a refractometer and tds meter.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Today, I rounded up all of my juvenile N. Pulcher (26 of them). I took them to my LFS to try and get store credit. I chose today, because my aquarium club was meeting there, and so I could make one journey of 60 miles round trip to serve two purposes. Alas, the manager was not immediately available and I had to get to the meeting, so I ended up putting the fish in the club’s monthly auction. I had three lots: two lots of ten each, and one lot of six. They sold for a paltry 50 cents each fish. I was quite disappointed, since the LFS sells them for $12.99 each. I am pretty certain the the buyer of two of the lots is going to re-sell them at a handsome profit. Oh well… that’s the way it goes sometimes. I think future spawns will make nice treats for my angels.

I’m very lucky to have a well that supplies water to my house. I say lucky, because I love aquaria and having a well makes keeping aquaria much easier than if one had a chlorinated water supply… except when it rains buckets and buckets all day.

Last night I hooked the siphon up to the sink to do a water change and vacuum the gravel in the N. Pulcher tank. All went well until I reversed the valve to refill the tank. Uh-oh! The water was very, very, turbid from all of the rain. By the time I was done, you couldn’t see from the front to the back of the tank. I did a quick check and all of the water parameters were right, thank goodness, This morning, the water is still a bit cloudy, but it is clearing slowly. Seems like its time to pull out the Vortex diatom filter.

I trashed the light today. I tried everything I could think of except replacing the ballast, which is riveted to the light fixture (pretty stupid idea in my opinion). I even bypassed the switch. The lights come on for about a half second and then go out. If I let it sit for about five minutes, I can get them to light again for about a half second.

I’ve moved one of my two 24” fixtures from the 110 to 40 cichlid. The angels and discus can do with less light until I get a replacement this weekend. I didn’t want too much damage to happen to the plants in the 40. Being without a light fixture for four days sure did clean up a lot of the algae.

I contacted That Pet Place today, and it seems that they have a 30 day exchange/return policy and that’s only if the item was not used. I personally think that this is a very bad business practice. I understand the 30 day rule, but for an expensive piece of equipment like a light fixture, one would think a defective product would garner more service; especially since its only six weeks old. I also think that, as a good customer, the store would offer a little consideration to me. I had to resort to calling Coralife, but I’m pretty sure that will be a waste of time, as I no longer have the receipt. I don’t know about anyone else, but if I kept every receipt for a whole year, Id be completely buried in paper and probably be fodder for that hording reality show. Oh well, I suppose I’ll try a self-repair and not be so anxious to buy locally (TPP) instead of over the net. It seems that loyalty to the local place doesn’t really get me anything except higher prices.

When I awoke this morning and checked the aquaria, I discovered that the light on my cichlid tank will not light. I have no idea what the problem is, but the light, a 36” Coralife Aqualight T5HO is less than two months old! I am hope that either Coralife or That Pet Place in Lancaster is able to correct the situation. I didn’t save my receipt.

It seems that my N. Pulcher fry have hit a growth spurt. Larger groups are now venturing out of their cave and becoming more active in the tank. I’ve counted as many as 10 that are between 3/4” and 1”. At other times I can only see 5 or 6 of them. There is a large, uncountable spawn in another cave. These little ones are less than 1/4 inch. In all, I think I have four different spawns growing in the tank that belong to a trio of fish.

One fact that really disturbs me is that I had 5 adult fish in there as of March 9th, but can now only find 4. I don’t even see a carcass belonging to the fifth, causing me to wonder what happened. If it were lying somewhere out of sight, I would have expected to see an ammonia or nitrate spike, but have noticed neither. I have read that N. Pulcher become terroristic once they spawn, but can they be that efficient at disposing of the bodies?

Other than their terribly aggressive behavior toward interlopers, I find these fish to be absolutely fascinating. There are many more colorful fish, to be sure, but these cichlids have got to be among the most interesting in their behaviors. Not to sell them short on their appearance, they do have beautiful, yellow-colored dorsal fins that trail streamers and lyre shaped tails, both of which are evident in pictures from my previous posts.

Keep watching for more photos, coming soon. I will also soon be posting pictures of my little betta tank, as well as my discus/angel tank.

Thanks for checking in, and feel free to comment on your own fish and aquaria.